• Published 14th Oct 2011
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Studies of a Bookworm - Fire Soul



The writing and studies of Twilight Sparkle.

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Herding

Herding

by Twilight Sparkle

Polygamy, swinging, and many other words have often been used to describe herding, though only polygamy comes close to properly defining what exactly herding is. In truth, herding is the act of many ponies entering into an intimate, likely sexual relationship with one another, for various or all the same reasons.

Herding is nowhere near as common an occurrence in Equestria as it used to be, before society became matriarchal with two Goddesses becoming the rulers of a now-united nation. Back then, when stallions were the ones in charge, it was far from unusual for stallions to have a multitude of mares officially 'dating' them. In those times, herding was a much more exact science, but now herding is defined much more broadly.

This form of relationship no longer requires a stallion to occur, partially due to the advancements of magic allowing mares to sire young with other mares, but mostly because society has evolved past the old prejudices and hatred towards homosexuality....for the most part, anyways.

On top of this, herding doesn't necessarily have to mean that intimacy can only occur between one individual and all of the others in the herd. On the contrary, some ponies begin herding as a form of getting to know other ponies without the difficulties that classic dating methods can have. For some, simply having that one thing in common, that they are in the same herd together, can make it easier to open up and be more social among other members of the herd.

Herds can also range in size from maybe three or four to ten or twenty. The largest recorded herd in modern Equestrian history occurred over three-hundred years ago, when one Dark Star was the founding member of a herd of sixty-three. Many have wondered if perhaps it was a harem since he was a noblepony living in Canterlot, but in truth it was due to his excessive charisma and his excessive caring, generosity and universal love for all of ponykind that he captured the hearts of so many stallions and mares, always giving to those more unfortunate than himself and caring about everypony he met. He even went as far as to openly call out the nobles on their greedy natures, earning him a lot of popularity and notoriety in equal measure, becoming a powerful voice in favor of the middle class. The fact that the majority of his lovers in his herd were of the middle class attests to how well-known and loved he was.

Herding occurs in modern Equestrian society for a number of reasons. The most common is when two or more ponies find themselves in love with one particular mare or stallion, and none of them wish to enter into hostilities or competition with the others for that pony's affections. If all ponies involved in such a relationship agree, a herd is formed, and they will remain platonic towards one another while still loving that single pony they were attracted to.

This method of herding can result in members of the herd that are platonic towards one another eventually becoming more intimate and close. Usually, this is exactly what happens when one or more members of the herd begin to feel unfulfilled in their divided relationship.

Another reason herding occurs is due to open-minded ponies all coming together, likely having been sexually acquainted previously, and forming a herd that is mutually exclusive in physical and emotional intimacy, rather than any of them restricting themselves to a single other lover. This sort of herd is self-defining, coming together due to the mutual desire for more sexual intercourse and possibly even love and romance, instead of settling for less with just one companion.

There are many other reasons, but the most difficult question of all with such a subject is how ponies broke away from their herding instincts in the first place. Herding in ancient times meant safety, and a far lesser likelihood of being caught and eaten by predators. Safety in numbers, as they say. So what caused it to stop?

The reason is difficult to pinpoint, but two theories have become very popular both among the scientific community, and among Equestrian society. The first reason is that after we formed civilization for ourselves, herding became unnecessary as we learned to build walls, buildings and various other ways of defending ourselves far more reliably, and on a more individual level.

The second reason is that ponies, upon achieving sentience, developed powerful emotions like love, and jealousy. Because of this, many believe that herding began to fail spectacularly due to so many clashing personalities and personal preferences and emotions being forced to co-exist in a single tightly-knitted and, above all, emotional community. Thus, more monogamous relationships rapidly became prevalent compared to forcing many mares, for example, to be with a single stallion.

What truly confounds science as a whole is a seemingly genetic predisposition for us as a whole to somehow know when more mares should be born, and when more stallions should be born. As far back as records show, Equestria has been a country that has a mare-to-stallion population of three-to-one! The farthest deviation from this pattern happens every couple hundred years, when instead of three-to-one, it becomes two-to-one. Not once in recorded history has the Equestrian population ever deviated from this statistical truth.

This means that deep down, on a genetic level, we're hard-wired to listen to our stallion-following herd instincts, but because of civilization and society, we've broken away from this, oddly enough for the sake of the whole, or the 'herd' you could say.

Some argue that we've never broken away from our herd mentality, and that becoming a united nation is just all of ponykind coming together into a single, massive herd all its own. Whether this is true or not is not the issue. The issue is that the scientific community as a whole deems this field of study unnecessary for the continued evolution of science in general. Thus, no one really performs any new studies in the field, though this could also be because it's extremely difficult to check one's theories with such a thing as herding.

Herding has become a very difficult-to-define, yet easy-to-define thing in society. While science ponders on the true definition of herding, ponies use the word to describe any relationship that winds up with more than just two ponies being together.

Comments ( 6 )

herding is certainly interesting when spoken of in connection with MLP ponies, since they are on a human level of intelligence and have many other similarities with us as well; while it's a big taboo for us humans.
one thing though, all most higher forms of animals have some level of sentience (chimpanzees for example), so saying that

The second reason is that ponies, upon achieving sentience, developed powerful emotions like love, and jealousy.

is not very accurate.

2562367
Sentience, higher intelligence....eh.

2564983
I think you meant "sapience", not "sentience."

Other than that, seems legit.

2600523
THERE'S the word I'm lookin' for! Yes, that sounds about right.

Hello Fire Soul
I have been waiting for a long time for a new chapter, is there still hope?

will it continue soon?

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